Freedom is not somewhere far off; it can be tasted, sweet as nectar, while you are fully alive.
The Arc
The shabad sings jivan-mukti, liberation while fully alive: those who hold the teaching are awake day and night and let self-conceit melt away. The rahau makes it personal, I live by singing, the Word is the sweetest elixir. Clinging to what comes and goes leaves one circling in a fog; the settled heart acts with natural, effortless poise and tastes the Name; and whoever meets the One at the source is never separated again.
Key Vocabulary
jeevat mukat — liberated while yet alive; freedom as a way of living now.
mahaa ras — the great elixir; the sweetness of the Word.
sahj subhaa-ay — with natural, effortless poise (sahaj).
vichhurh na jaa-ee — never separated again; the end of all longing.
Themes and Cross-Connections
jivan-mukti and sahaj are two of Gurbani's central pictures of the aligned soul, free and at ease while fully in the world. once-met-never-parted answers the raag's viraha directly.
For Raag Malaar
Here the raag's longing is already resolved: the separation that Malaar aches over is healed, and the soul that has met the One is never parted from it again.
Translation Notes
The verse's mar mar jameh milai sajaa-ay (dying again and again to punishment) is softened to a wearying round of restlessness that never arrives, keeping the teaching while removing the note of dread.
Freedom is not somewhere far off; it can be tasted, sweet as nectar, while you are fully alive.
The Arc
The shabad sings jivan-mukti, liberation while fully alive: those who hold the teaching are awake day and night and let self-conceit melt away. The rahau makes it personal, I live by singing, the Word is the sweetest elixir. Clinging to what comes and goes leaves one circling in a fog; the settled heart acts with natural, effortless poise and tastes the Name; and whoever meets the One at the source is never separated again.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
jivan-mukti and sahaj are two of Gurbani's central pictures of the aligned soul, free and at ease while fully in the world. once-met-never-parted answers the raag's viraha directly.
For Raag Malaar
Here the raag's longing is already resolved: the separation that Malaar aches over is healed, and the soul that has met the One is never parted from it again.
Translation Notes
The verse's mar mar jameh milai sajaa-ay (dying again and again to punishment) is softened to a wearying round of restlessness that never arrives, keeping the teaching while removing the note of dread.